Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 5:40 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Hastings won’t just play halfback this season, I think that’s pretty clear from how last year went. If anybody is to have spells at 13, I would imagine it will be Sam Powell with Hastings doing what became the norm at the end of last year by jumping in to hooker. I think Lam wants to be pretty flexible with how he uses guys like Hastings, Field, Powell, Leuluai and then even guys in the pack like Bateman and Farrell. He spoke the other day about how our ball movement was the best in the comp at the end of the season and he may just want a handler in the middle to help keep that going. I’d think that rules out guys like Isa or Havard jumping in to loose forward as we then might become a bit sluggish.

I think our line up will change dependant on the opposition and of course injuries. I can see Havard, Partington and Bateman, together with the others you have named occupying that spot. Havard's ability to gain metres was really important to us on occasions last season.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:11 pm  

jonh wrote:

No I don’t think he is posting to influence the club.

I am however certain the club will be in constant contact with him and giving him programs and diets with a view to deliberately bulking him up.

This isn’t amateur rugby league or the 1980’s.

These are elite athletes and the club are not going to sit on their hands whilst their biggest asset has a holiday and loses condition at the most important time of the year from a conditioning point of view.

The world is a much smaller place than we like to make out. I’d expect at the very least regular sessions with the conditioning team over “Zoom” etc and they may have engaged a local conditioning resource to support the 2 players whilst they are in Australia.

This was common place when I was involved in conditioning 10 years ago
and I don’t think things will have regressed since then.

We all hopefully see him as a 6 but I think the club not him will be instructing him to deliberately gain some muscle with a view to him playing other positions for us in 2021 without it having a detrimental effect on his performance as a half.

Why would the club be getting him to bulk up? He's 6ft, about 100kg and lean.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:13 pm  

NSW wrote:

??

Powell played at loose at lot last year when Hastings, French, Smith and Tommy were all on the pitch at the same time

Its just a ridiculously simplistic view to say if we are losing with 20 minutes then this will be the team.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:23 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Its just a ridiculously simplistic view to say if we are losing with 20 minutes then this will be the team.

Dont be daft - it's just an illustration of the adaptability of our playmakers and the option to accommodate them all in a close game scenario.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:54 pm  

I think one of the bonuses of our squad is it’s versatility if and when we get injuries. Hastings could easily slot in at 9 or 13 if required, Tommy could too, as can Powell. Field (allegedly) can drop into FB/Wings and we all know French can do both plus the halves. In the centres Zak can slot into FB or wing and Gildart could drop into the wings and FB also. Our pack is very much rotational around all positions except hooker which is probably, strangely, where we’d have the most positional consistency.

The downside to this is that we may not get a consistent team week to week which may disrupt us but generally I think we’ve a solid team on our hands. We just need to actually prove it.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:57 pm  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

I think our line up will change dependant on the opposition and of course injuries. I can see Havard, Partington and Bateman, together with the others you have named occupying that spot. Havard's ability to gain metres was really important to us on occasions last season.

Nailed on top 17 player for me Havard but as a prop. I’d probably start Partington at loose forward and I think he may well do but I think we’ll see some rotation in the position throughout the games.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:12 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Why would the club be getting him to bulk up? He's 6ft, about 100kg and lean.

Well he’s now 101 kg and talking about his weight gain.

Starting to think you are a troll to be honest but I will go with it.

He gets through a lot of defensive work but it isn’t always dominant. If he moves to a middle more during games he will need the extra size and strength/power that is associated with it to get through those duties.

The key to it is his frame and what he can carry without impacting on his main role as a half.

For me he is very much in the Barrett/Fittler style of half who has the frame to add mass and play 13 effectively.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:15 pm  

jonh wrote:

Well he’s now 101 kg and talking about his weight gain.

Starting to think you are a troll to be honest but I will go with it.

He gets through a lot of defensive work but it isn’t always dominant. If he moves to a middle more during games he will need the extra size and strength/power that is associated with it to get through those duties.

The key to it is his frame and what he can carry without impacting on his main role as a half.

For me he is very much in the Barrett/Fittler style of half who has the frame to add mass and play 13 effectively.

I know we are going back twenty years but Hanley was the best 13 I've ever seen. Not much bulk up top but my god he was strong as an ox.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:45 pm  

MattyB wrote:

I know we are going back twenty years but Hanley was the best 13 I've ever seen. Not much bulk up top but my god he was strong as an ox.

Warrington are lining up an offer as we speak ...

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:09 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

Fair play to Rogues Gallery - he called this one three months ago.

I wonder why?